


It started with a fire and ended with a mess

by 63rl1A



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Amusement Park, Gen, Summer, john is a fast food cook, mary wank a bit i guess, they are all a bit younger
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-02
Updated: 2016-09-02
Packaged: 2018-08-12 15:18:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,128
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7939477
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/63rl1A/pseuds/63rl1A
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>John Watson has a summer job in an amusement park. It is for a case, of course, but it's easy to forget your mission with co-workers like Mary.</p>
            </blockquote>





	It started with a fire and ended with a mess

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Liisa](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Liisa).



> I would like to thank my amazing co-workers Aliis and Liisa, without whom I wouldn't have finished this, and also Dani, without whom I wouldn't have even started. 
> 
> This isn't beta'd or anything. It's also the first fic I've ever published, so any kind of comments are much appreciated.

I’d never thought that I would work at an amusement park. Me – John Watson, a 25-year-old army veteran, spending my whole summer in a commercial kitchen, preparing chips, nuggets, onion rings – pretty much anything you can think of that could be deep-fried. I was there for a case, of course, not exactly under cover but not quite open about my motives either. Sherlock had reason to believe that an infamous and extremely dangerous assassin had infiltrated the staff of the park (his words, not mine). Obviously, he was not bothered to investigate for himself, preferring lurking in our flat to spending time in the field. 

There were five staff members per shift in my building, two in the kitchen and three in the dining hall. The girls in the front were all quite young; some not even eighteen yet, but hard workers nevertheless. Their duties included taking orders, serving food, cleaning the tables, manning the cash register etc. In the back we had two cooks – one making fast food and the other one preparing more homemade meals. I never really got to know the other fast food cook, us working in the opposite shifts and all, but the cook I was working at the beginning of the summer was rather annoying, quite a know it all, and nobody really wanted to work with her. We had an opening for the other cook’s position until well into July. 

The twelfth of July started as any other work day. I cycled to work, changed my clothes and stepped into the kitchen. An unfamiliar woman stood next to the window and greeted me with a nod. Just as I realised that she must be our new cook, a pot on a stove bursted up in flames.   
A quite a bit of swearing and one fire blanket later the fire was extinguished and we had a chance to introduce ourselves. Mary – that’s what she said her name to be – seemed like a sweet girl with a wonderful sense of humour. Much to my delight she was not much younger than me, and we got along immediately. We were cracking jokes, singing along to the radio, fooling around the kitchen. But the spark between us more than just friendship, and before long, we spent all our evenings together, and most of the nights too.   
Needless to say, Sherlock did not approve. He accused me of neglecting the case, and he was right. I stopped paying attention to my co-workers – other than Mary of course. To be honest, the thought of any of these children being an assassin seemed downright ridiculous. I am quite sure that even Sherlock saw that, and if Mary hadn’t joined our crew, I would have quit before the end of July. 

My relationship with Mary progressed in dizzying speed. By the middle of August, we were making plans to move in together, and I was absolutely sure that she was the woman that I was going to spend the rest of my life together. We lived in a blissful bubble and everything around us seemed wonderful.   
Meanwhile Sherlock only grew more and more obnoxious, seemingly making it his mission to break us up. Of course, he is always like that, but this time he took it to insufferable heights. He showed up on my dates just to give me yet another unimportant task, but that I could manage. The final drop in the goblet were the phone calls – at least once an hour, no matter if I was at work or with Mary, and from a man who hadn’t called me even once before, that was simply unbearable.   
The last week of august came with a lot of anxiety. The prime minister had a tradition of visiting our park every year on the last day of the season. That of course meant a lot of preparations, to ensure that everything was in perfect order, ready for the most important visitor of the year. I thought nothing special of it, but once Sherlock pointed out that the PM was the most likely target to our assassin, I did my best to figure out who might be the wolf hiding amongst ourselves.   
The very last day of the summer arrived, and I was still no closer to figuring out the murderer. With a heavy heart, I got ready for work. There was an almost ominous silence in our usually buzzing kitchen. Nobody talked to each other - it’s like they felt the oncoming storm, and I was going to be in the eye of the hurricane. The VIP entered the park a little after noon, and received a phone call from Sherlock not even five minutes later.  
He had solved it, in a nick of time, but of course he had solved it, and once again I was proved to be a blind idiot. It had been Mary all along, and I had been played for a fool. Now all there was to do was to find her, preferably before she managed to reach her target.   
As I ran outside, a gunshot echoed over the park, startling a small flock of ravens. Keeping a cold nerve, I tried to position both the shooter and the prime minister. After noticing a glimmer of light in the top of the climbing tower, the only logical step seemed to make my way up there. While passing the grilling area, I noticed the leader of our country taking cover in one of the gazebos. A quick look confirmed that he was still uninjured, so it seemed pointless to waste another moment on him.   
I had climbed most of the tower when another bang split the nervous silence that had fallen over the park, making me curse under my breath and add pace. After what seemed like hours, even though the logic reasons that it must have been only seconds, I finally reached the top. Mary was there; her back still turned at me, so it was obvious that she was still oblivious of my presence. All of that didn’t matter to me anymore, because Sherlock was also there – lying on the floor, in a red puddle of blood. 

I must have blacked out then, because the next thing I can remember is me, sitting in an ambulance. I was covered with blood, not sure whose, and held Sherlock’s hand. I did the only thing that made sense at the moment. I prayed to all the gods that might listen to me that they would let him live. 

PS. They told us that Mary got away, but I couldn’t care less at the moment. Once Sherlock gets better, the east wind will come and sweep her away. Right now, however, my first and only priority is Sherlock.

**Author's Note:**

> This story takes place in an amusement park I worked in this summer. I was a fast food chef, and all the descriptions of the people and locations are based on real life. 
> 
> This story is in honor of one of the best summers in my life.


End file.
